Dear Loser
by theMENTALalchemist
Summary: There's always been one person who you can't help falling for, and for Shou Marufuji that person is none other than Jun Manjoume; someone who he hasn't liked since the start of the school year. Warning: Shounen-ai!


"Looks like you lose," a dark-haired boy wearing a blue jacket said. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

The other boy, who wore a wearing a red jacket, could only stare into the dark-haired boy's cold eyes. He got up and ran, leaving the group laughing.

"Manjoume, you bully!" a voice came out of nowhere. The dark-haired boy, Jun Manjoume, looked around for the voice, only to find red dorm student Shou Marufuji approaching him. "Why are you doing this? It's wrong!"

"What's wrong about it?" Manjoume replied, bending down to Shou's level of height.

"They're only beginners!" Shou shouted back.

"Like yourself?"

The short blue-haired boy was about to reply, when he realized that Manjoume was right. And even worse, Shou had to live in the shadow of his older brother, Ryo, who was one of Duel Academy's top students. Shou lowered his head in defeat and began to walk away.

"That's right, little red-jacket," Manjoume taunted. "Go back to that dump of a place you call your dorm!" Manjoume and his crew began to laugh.

Shou suddenly turned around and ran back up to them and faced Manjoume. "I'll duel you!" he yelled. "Duel me!"

Manjoume looked at Shou for a moment, then laughed even harder. "Like I'd waste my time on losers like you!" he cackled, walking away with his group.

Disappointed and upset, Shou slowly walked back to the red dorm, his head hanging low.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Hey, Shou!" a cheerful voice greeted Shou as he entered his dorm room. He looked up to see his friend, Judai Yuuki, sitting on the floor and looking at his deck.

Shou only looked at him and smiled, then crawled slowly into bed with his uniform on.

"Something wrong?" Judai asked, putting his cards down to look at his friend.

"Kind of," Shou replied, his voice muffled from the blankets on his face.

"Well, you can talk to me, you know."

"Okay, you remember Manjoume, right?"

"Of course I do! We had an awesome duel!"

"Well, he's been picking on other reds lately, and I want to stop him-"

"Great, I'll help you!"

"No, Judai. I want to do this on my own."

"Why?"

"Because…" Shou took a minute to think about his brother and how weak everyone thought he was. He had to show everyone that he could be a great duelist just like Ryo! "Because I have something to prove."

"Oh…" Judai replied, understanding what his friend was thinking. "I get it. Good luck then." Judai climbed into his bunk and quickly fell asleep, leaving Shou wide-awake and thinking.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

That morning, Judai awoke to find Shou's bed empty and his duel disk gone. "Either someone kidnapped Shou," he said to himself. "Or he went to duel Manjoume."

Judai quickly changed and slipped on his shoes before heading out the door at a brisk pace. "Hold on, Shou!" he yelled. "I'm coming! Don't win without me!"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Shou yelled and fell over backwards, his life points having reached zero. The monster holograms disappeared and Manjoume smiled. "I told you," he said. "We're just wasting time doing this. You'll always be a just a loser." Manjoume turned and walked away just as Judai came running up.

"So, what'd I miss? Is Shou the winner?" he asked Manjoume as he passed.

Manjoume stopped walking. "The only thing he is now is a loser," he replied, not even bothering to look at the two. He began walking again as Shou sunk to his knees in defeat.

"I… I tried, Judai…" Shou said. "But he's right, you know. I'm just a loser. I'll always be a loser."

"Come on," Judai said, walking over to his friend and helping him up. "Let's go back to the dorm and have tea or something." The two walked back, and Judai couldn't help but think one thing. Maybe Manjoume was right. Was there really any hope for Shou?

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Manjoume sat in class, smiling as he thought about his victory over Shou. The only problem was, when he tried to stop thinking about ht blue-haired boy, he couldn't. Shou's defeated face showed up in his mind, and it began to bring him down a bit. Was Shou okay? Manjoume shook his head. Of course the kid was all right. He'd be fine-

"Manjoume!!" The teacher's yell woke the dark-haired boy from his daydreaming.

"Yes?" he replied, standing up from his seat.

"Please tell the class one fact about magic cards."

"Sh-" Manjoume cut himself off and froze. He'd been thinking about Shou so much that he had nearly said his name out loud. "Uh, sure," he corrected himself. "Magic cards can be played face-down or from a duelists hand."

"Very good, please sit down."

Manjoume sighed as he lowered himself back into his seat. The class continued normally, but Manjoume was still thinking about Shou._ This is going to be a long day, _Manjoume thought with a sigh. _A really, really long day._

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Come on, Shou," Judai sighed, holing up a bowl of hot soup for his friend. "You have to eat something!"

Shou shrugged. "What's the point?" he replied flatly. "I'll probably lose at that too."

"Okay, you're taking this _way _to seriously now," Judai said sternly, dropping the bowl. It spilled everywhere, but that was the least important thing right now. "You haven't eaten in a day, you've skipped classes, what's wrong with you?"

"Manjoume's a great duelist. A great duelist that I lost to…"

"_Stop it_, Shou. I'm being serious for once. You need to go back to class, and you need to eat something! Let's go." Judai grabbed Shou by the arm and dragged him to their classes, the blue-haired boy reluctantly walking with him.

"But, Judai-" Shou began only to be cut off by his friend.

"Shut up," Judai replied. "Just shut up."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Eventually, Shou found a way to escape from Judai during class, which had been when Judai fell asleep during a lecture. The blue-haired boy was walking through the empty hallways when another figure appeared in the distance. In an instant, Shou realized that it was Manjoume. He began to walk the other way, but the dark-haired boy ran after him.

"Shou," Manjoume called. "Please, wait! I want to talk to you."

Shou stopped, deciding to give the blue dorm student one more chance. Manjoume approached the other boy slowly, calmly reaching out to place a hand on his shoulder.

Shou felt a wave of heat surge through his body as Manjoume's hand came down on his shoulder. He suddenly felt nervous rather than depressed. The heat was almost unbearable.

"Listen," Manjoume began calmly. "I'm really, truly sorry. The truth is… that… that I can't get you out of my head. I can only see your sad face in my mind and I don't want that. So, yeah. I'll leave you alone now."

Manjoume began to walk away, but Shou couldn't let him leave. The blue-haired boy ran up to the student and wrapped his arms around his waist, burying his face into his clothes.

It was at this moment that the heat had built up so much inside their bodies, the two felt ready to explode.

Shou cried as he held Manjoume tighter. Manjoume smiled, despite his embarrassment, and wrapped his arms around the boy. "I'll take that as apology accepted," Manjoume whispered, a single tear running down his cheek. He held Shou tighter, never wanting to let him go.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Manjoume!" Shou called, opening the door to the dark-haired boy's room in the blue dorm. Surprisingly, it was empty. Shou hadn't seen him all day, so he thought he might be in here.

The blue-haired student, who had moved up to the yellow dorm since the time when he made up with Manjoume, looked around the room. There was nothing there but the furniture and… a letter on the desk? Shou walked across the room to Manjoume's desk and pulled out the chair.

He sat and grabbed the letter. Opening it, he began to read it aloud to himself.

"Dear Loser, I can no longer stay at Duel Academy. I have to move on in my life and take bigger steps. I hope you understand, and I leave you with a part of a song by the band Bite the Lung:

'They say that you'll meet someone (losing is winning) who'll help you get over The baggage you've lost up to now, and love and friendship and wasting money. So, dear loser Hey, shall we go where the signs tell us? Dear loser, don't tell me anymore About the sobs that break down everything we've built up

Come to think of it, we've cultivated this shining blue, every bit, without spilling it Let's carry in like this, hiding nothing Even if what lays ahead turns out to shackle us, I don't care.

The footprints I left behind are erased by the wind And then someone finds them and accepts them, even if they're bad.'

So, Dear Loser, please don't ever forget me. We'll meet again someday, I'm sure of it. I love you more than anything in the world.

Jun Manjoume"

Shou could only stare straight ahead as the letter fell from his grip and tears fell from his eyes. "How… how could he?" Shou whispered. "How could he do this to me?! MANJOUME!!"

The blue-haired boy spent the rest of the day locked up in Manjoume's room crying over something that had slipped through his grasp, just when he had a hold of it. He was crying over love.

Shou eventually cried himself to sleep, his eyes burning from shedding so may hot tears. His throat hurt, and he was sore from lying on the bed for hours on end. He would wake up sweating, having nightmares about something happening to Manjoume.

Shou tossed and turned, realizing that until he saw his love again, his nights would be sleepless and full of nightmares, thanks to that one person. He gave a small laugh, thinking about how the one he loved had caused him so much pain.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

_One year later…_

Shou sat alone at the docks, his legs dangling off over the water. The sun was beginning to set, turning the sky all sorts of beautiful colors. The sound of footsteps behind him woke the blue-haired student from his thoughts and daydreams. He turned to see his brother, Ryo Marufuji, approaching the pier.

Shou smiled at his brother, then went back to looking at the water. He noticed that the ripples became bigger, and Shou looked up to see a ship approaching. There was someone standing at the front of the boat, looking towards the island. Shou stood up, and when the boat came closer, he realized who was at the front.

"MANJOUME!!" he yelled, waving his arms, his new blue jacket flapping a bit in the wind.

The boat came in and docked, and Manjoume stepped off and began to walk towards Shou, arms wide. But before the two could reach each other, Ryo stepped in front of his brother and held Manjoume tight.

Manjoume's eyes widened as Ryo greeted him. "Hello, Manjoume," he whispered before leaning to kiss the one he was holding.

"NO!! Shou shouted as rage overcame him, and he ran towards his brother, pushing him away from Manjoume.

Ryo fell over, and there was a crack as he hit the ground. He yelled, holding the arm he'd fallen on.

"I know what you're doing, brother," Shou said, holding Manjoume in his arms. "You're jealous. But this is one thing that I won't ever let you have."

Manjoume blushed furiously as Shou kissed his lips. The kiss was passionate, yet gentle at the same time. Manjoume kissed him back, closing his eyes and enjoying the moment all he could.

When the two broke apart, Ryo was in shock. "Sorry, Kaiser," Manjoume said, looking down at the man on the ground. "Better luck with someone else." The two walked away hand-in-hand, leaving Ryo alone with his broken arm.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

By the time the two entered Manjoume's room back at the blue dorm, the sun had set and the sky was dark. As soon as the door was locked behind them, Shou threw Manjoume against the wall and began to kiss him again.

Manjoume shrugged off his jacket and let began to unbutton Shou's jacket and shirt. Shou put his hands up Manjoume's shirt, running his fingers on his love's chest as they kissed. Manjoume moaned a little bit, and Shou smiled.

Shirtless and tired, the two retired to the bed and lay in each other's arms.

"Manjoume," Shou said. "Did you really mean everything you put in that letter?

Manjoume gave a small laugh and smiled. "If I didn't mean it, I wouldn't have written it," he replied. "In fact…" Manjoume got up and pulled Shou with him. He put Shou up against the wall. "…I think I'll start writing another now."

Manjoume took his finger and traced out words on Shou's chest. "Dear Loser," he began as Shou laughed. "I L-O-V-E Y-O-U."

They kissed again, and eventually fell asleep holding each other tight, never wanting to let go.


End file.
